Behind the Mask
by nekoftal
Summary: Ino Yamanaka is underappreciated. This is a peak into her mind as she progresses.


Stupid, Selfish, Simple-minded.

That's how people saw Ino Yamanaka.

She knew why. It was obvious. She was blonde, dramatic, pretty, loud, obsessive, talkative, and oh so much more, but those first few, that's what people saw.

They saw the stereotypical blonde, the academically troubled cheerleader, the gossipy teen, and nothing else. It never seemed to register in their minds that appearance was not everything. They didn't see past her appearance, past her blue eyes, past her blonde hair. They couldn't see past it. The couldn't see her solicitude, her smarts, her sacrifice.

They couldn't see it when she helped Sakura all those years ago. They didn't see her break that bond of friendship and sacrifice her one true friend to help that friend grow. They refused to see that she scored higher than almost everyone on tests, trained for missions, kept her wants separate from her needs. Instead, they saw her desire to be more popular as she gathered up friends from all corners of the academy. They saw her reject a friend so she could keep a boy's love all for herself. They saw her put on makeup every morning and get beat in the spars. They took her actions and warped them to match what they assumed of her. They never asked her, never even tried to analyze her actions. They only glimpsed the surface and leaped to their own conclusions.

Ino knew just how much time and effort it took for her to become a shinobi. She knew just how much attention to pay to Sasuke and how much attention to pay in class. She knew when to butt in and when to stay quiet. She knew how to blend in and how to stand out. She knew just what she needed to learn and improve on. She knew exactly who needed help and how to help them. She also knew exactly what other people thought of her, and she threw them off without a care. Ino refused to be put down by such simple minded fools.

To put it simply, Ino took after her dad. She judged people, situations, made rational decisions, gathered intel, and then acted. She seamlessly integrated herself into their lives and drew the attention to herself. She cast the shadows to let others grow quietly at their own pace. She knew her classmates were geniuses, prodigies, better than herself. She knew that one day they would save her. This was just her way of keeping their lives as normal as possible and paying them for the future. She drew the gossip and talk, letting the others proceed naturally and grow to their maximum potential. She shielded them from politics and manipulation. Well, most of them. She suspected that Shikamaru knew, but never mind that. Just about everything she did was to help her classmates grow. Why she did this, she didn't know. Perhaps it was because of her father. Inoichi had taught her that teamwork was important and Konoha was always top priority. Somehow, unconsciously, Ino knew that her classmates would one day become the backbone of Konoha and she did everything she could to help them, to keep Konoha strong.

 _Ino would not let her life be controlled by people who didn't know her. They didn't know how hard it was to be Ino Yamanaka._

When Ino saw Sakura, she knew Sakura needed help. She took it upon herself to give her the help that nobody else wanted to. She took Sakura under her wing, tried to push her out into the world, tried to push her. It didn't work. Sakura was overshadowed by her. Sakura hid, crawled deeper and deeper into her hole as Ino attempted to push her out. But then Sasuke came. It was perfect. Sakura came out, grew, broke away, and became strong. It worked, Sakura became Sakura. They learned together, sparred together, loved together. Even when they were apart, Ino kept an eye out for Sakura.

When Ino saw her genin team, she knew they needed help. Shikamaru was smart, but unmotivated. Choji was powerful, but unwilling to use his power. She took it upon herself to give the help that nobody else wanted to give. She pushed Shikamaru, argued, screeched, annoyed him to make him move. She nudged Choji, insulted, screamed, forced him to move. She changed them, slowly but surely. Shikamaru's training hours became longer, Choji learned to kill, even if it was just animals. They worked together, trained together, laughed together, became a team. Even if Shikamaru was the tactical leader, she was the heart.

When Ino saw her teacher, she knew he needed help. She took it upon herself to give the help that nobody else wanted to. He was lost, in life, in love, in just about everything. She pushed him, made everything easy and clear to him. She told him exactly what she expected, wanted, needed. She forced him to understand, gave him no excuses, shifted his views. They talked together, understood together, grew together. Even though Asuma was the teacher, Ino was the one who taught him.

When Ino met Naruto for the first time, she knew he didn't need help. He was loud, annoying, and dramatic, but he was just like her. His looks governed what he was. His whiskers, his blue eyes, his blonde hair. (Did you really think that she hadn't figured it out with all the hints her father had dropped?) They were oddly similar, oddly related. She did the only thing she could do for him. She accepted him for what he truly was and tried her very hardest not to judge.

When Ino met Sasuke for the first time, she knew she would never love him. He was moody, arrogant, and calculating, but he was sad. His family trapped him. They trapped him in lies and blood, in judgement and reputation. The Uchiha name, his aristocratic looks, his inherited eyes. (Did everyone really think he was okay?) He thought he could use everyone around him, but it was Ino who used him. Used him to help Sakura, used him to build her image, used him because he was so easy to manipulate. To repay him, she let him use her to climb up the power pyramid. She let him pass her.

All her classmates, her year mates, the Konoha 11. They were her world. She would try to protect them until they bloomed and fulfilled their potential. She would do it again and again, for them.

Everything Ino did had a reason. She was not stupid or silly or selfish. She let people think that. She allowed it, because this way, they would not question her. She could help people, fix them, set them on the right path without resistance or suspicion. It was more convenient so she sacrificed her image, her abilities, in exchange for the lives of her friends, her classmates. She did just about everything for them, for her home, for Konoha.

 _Ino Yamanaka._

She let them judge her, but inside, she was everything they would never understand.

 **Hope you enjoyed! I like Ino's character so I wrote this up.**


End file.
